Charlie Rangel: Pause Hillary Clinton endorsements

Rep. Charles Rangel isn’t joining the chorus of Democrats supporting Hillary Clinton for 2016 just yet and says it’s too early for pols to be making such endorsements of the former secretary of state.

“I think really, it’s premature,” Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Monday, as quoted by Capital New York in an article that noted Rangel’s surprise at Sen. Chuck Schumer’s early backing of Clinton in Iowa over the weekend.

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“Because once you’re a candidate, people take shots at you,” Rangel said when asked why it was premature. “And I don’t really think that it’s necessary for her to announce now. The election is 2016. A lot of things can happen between now and 2016.”

Rangel, who supported Clinton’s presidential bid in 2008, cited Benghazi and the flawed Obamacare rollout as possible “targets” for a Clinton candidacy.

“They’re looking for targets, and it only takes one or two of them to get the attention of the [media],” Rangel said. “I just hate to see her having to defend her candidacy at this early stage in the game.

On Saturday, Schumer threw his support behind Clinton at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Iowa, calling 2016 “Hillary’s time.”